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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Is this the Poland/E. Germany Moment for Iran

Watching the events unfold, I notice that while there has been some death, and some bloodshed, what is remarkable so far is how little shooting is going on. This could all turn in a matter of minutes, but it's starting to resemble Poland or East Germany toward the end, where the police/military were reluctant to fire on protestors and just "hoped they'd go away." Obviously, this isn't happening in Iran.

More important, how wise does President Bush now look for putting (admittedly flawed) democracies on each side of the "Islamic Republic?" Did you see the picture of the woman with a sign that said, "Regime change!" Who do you think she was referring to?

Meanwhile, the current oaf in the Oval just sits, hoping that a winner is clear so he can jump on board without risk. It's the epitome not only of gutlessness, but of indecision and absence of policy.

**Update, 6/22/09 10:00 pm EST: It appears that a few more people have been shot, and that the police are routinely now shooting in the air. That's still interesting. Imagine Stalin's secret police shooting at anything but bodies.

Bracketing Iran with Iraq and Afghanistan was a brilliant strategy from the beginning. Helping them to move closer to freedom will be more difficult with a silent no action President Barrack "Prime Minister Chamberlin" Obama keeping us on the sidelines while the Iranian people's uprising moves deeper into the dungeons of Iranian politics. I fear Obama's speeches of support will mirror the '70's Polish uprising resulting in slaughter.